Washington State was once part of the Oregon Territory. In 1852, settlers wrote Congress asking for a new territory called Columbia. Congress obliged, but changed the name to Washington Territory to honor the first President. Originally, Washington Territory included western Idaho and part of Montana.

Washington Territory went through some interesting times. For some years, white settlers were banned from moving into the eastern part of the territory to alleviate tensions between the native people and the settlers. During the 1860s, over 300 civil war widows and female orphans settled in the territory as seamstresses, teachers, and brides.

On November 11, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison formally declared Washington State part of the union, making it the 42nd state. Women were granted suffrage as part of the charter (The territorial legislature had granted women suffrage, but the territorial Court struck it down). The first governor of Washington was Elisha P. Ferry.

The first Labor Day was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 in New York City. Two years, later, the holiday was changed to the first Monday in September. While it is unclear who first suggested Labor Day (some sources say it was a carpenter, others a machinist), it is clear that the holiday was supported by labor organizations.

Cities were the first to officially recognize this “workingman’s” holiday and the states soon followed. Oregon was the first state to make Labor Day a legal observance in 1887. By 1894, Congress followed suit.

The original proposals for the holiday called for a huge parade and a festival for working men and their families. “It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pays tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.” – Department of Labor Website

Memorial Day, initially called Decoration Day, was first observed on May 30, 1868, to honor the Civil War soldiers who died in battle by decorating their graves. While Memorial Day was celebrated in the years following 1868, it was not declared a national holiday until 1971 when Congress declared it be celebrated on the last Monday of May. Today, Americans celebrate Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, participating in parades, and gathering with family and friends.

On February 8, 1887, President Grover Cleveland signed the Dawes Act, dividing up tribal lands into plots for individuals to farm. The effect of the Act was to weaken tribes, break up traditional families, and put Indian lands into non-Indian hands. Under the Act, farmers did not get ownership of the land for 25 years; if the farm failed, lands would be transferred back to the government and sold at auction. In the meantime, the farmer could not sell any of his allotted 160 acres. The Dawes Act was abolished in 1934 under Franklin Roosevelt.

More information is available at:

The Assault on Indian Tribalism: the General Allotment Law (Dawes act) of 1887 Wilcomb E. Washburn (Law Library – 4th floor @ KF5660.W38)

“In Mea Culpa, Steven W. Bender examines how the United States’ collective shame about its past has shaped the evolution of law and behavior. We regret slavery and segregationist Jim Crow laws. We eventually apologize, while ignoring other oppressions, and our legal response to regret often fails to be transformative for the affected groups. By examining policies and practices that have affected the lives of groups that have been historically marginalized and oppressed, Bender is able to draw persuasive connections between shame and its eventual legal manifestations. Analyzing the United States’ historical response to its own atrocities, Bender identifies and develops a definitive moral compass that guides us away from the policies and practices that lead to societal regret.

Mea Culpa challenges its readers. In a different era, might we have been slave owners or proprietors of a racially segregated establishment? It’s easy to judge immorality in the hindsight of history, but what current practices and policies will later generations regret?

More than a historical survey, this volume offers a framework for resolving some of the most contentious social problems of our time. Drawing on his background as a legal scholar, Bender tackles immigration, the death penalty, the war on terror, reproductive rights, welfare, wage inequity, homelessness, mass incarceration, and same-sex marriage. Ultimately, he argues, it is the dehumanization of human beings that allows for practices to occur that will later be marked as regrettable. And all of us have a stake in standing on the side of history that resists dehumanization.”

On September 17, 1767, the final draft of the Constitution was sent to Congress. It had been a long hard struggle to find a compromise that would pass, and even so, two days earlier Edmund Randolph wanted to review it again. Randolph was outvoted and on September 17 the Constitution was signed.

The Constitution of the United States of America: analysis and interpretation: analysis of cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 28, 2002, prepared by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress (Law Library Reference Desk @ KF4527.U54 2004)

The First Continental Congress met on September 5, 1774 in Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia. Every colony except Georgia sent delegates. The delegates included John Adams, Samuel Adams, George Washington, John Jay and Patrick Henry. The First Continental Congress formulated some common goals and produced a list of grievances against Britain. The Congress disbanded on October 26, 1774.

In 1777, the Continental Congress passed the first official Thanksgiving Day proclamation. In 1817, New York proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving, soon followed by many other states. Abraham Lincoln set the day as the last Thursday in November. FDR changed it to the fourth Thursday in November in 1939 (approved by Congress in 1941).

Based on the surviving transcript, Conspiracy dramatizes the meeting on January 20, 1942, in Wannsee, where 15 of Adolph Hitler’s mid-ranking men and government officials discussed how to implement Hitler’s latest directive. By the end of the two-hour meeting the men had decided the practicalities of the “final solution,” which entailed the annihilation of all Jews in Europe. The film stars Kenneth Branagh, Colin Firth, Stanley Tucci, and David Threlfall.

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the stars and stripes design for the flag of the United States. While the first national observance of Flag Day occurred on June 14, 1877, the centennial of the adoption of the flag, it was not an official national observance until years later. President Wilson in 1916, and President Coolidge again in 1927, issued proclamations asking for June 14th to be observed as National Flag Day. However, Congress did not approve the national observance until August 3, 1949, and President Truman signed it into law.